Houston Microcinema Aurora Picture Show has named the pioneer video and performance artist Joan Jonas as its 2011 Aurora Award winner. The award will be presented at the $250 -a-plate 11th Annual Aurora Award Dinner on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at the home of Jim McAlister. The Aurora Award, presented annually to artists who are already more famous than Aurora itself. Previous honorees include Christian Marclay (2010), Doug Aitken (2009), Steina and Woody Vasulka (2007), Miranda July (2006). Isaac Julien (2005), Ant Farm (2004), Laurie Anderson (2003), William Wegman (2002), and Tony Oursler (2001).

In 2009 Jonas was awarded the Guggenheim’s first annual Lifetime Achievement Award. Jonas has been awarded fellowships and grants for choreography, video, and visual arts from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the CAT Fund, the Artist TV Lab at WNET/13 (New York City), the Television Workshop at WXX1 (Rochester), and the Deutsche Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) in Germany. Jonas has received the Hyogo Prefecture Museum of Modern Art Prize at the Tokyo International Video Art Festival, the Polaroid Award for Video, and the American Film Institute Maya Deren Award for Video.